I leave Thailand tomorrow morning to fly to New Delhi. I am sad to leave such a beautiful country where I met so many great people, but I'm really looking forward to going to India and continuing my travels. I'm looking forward to being in more beautiful places and spending more time with wonderful people. In this regard, I've been so fortunate up until the very last, even meeting and hanging out with some Spanish backpackers today as I went to tour the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
The good news is... I passed my course! I'm now certified to teach English as a foreign language and the qualification is internationally valid, thus the world is literally my oyster as I'll be able to search for jobs anywhere. I was not let down in my hope that I would love teaching. I’m really glad that this certification will allow me to continue. I will miss the students very much. On the last day, they threw a party for us. They brought food that they had made and small gifts as well. We gave them certificates for their accomplishments, but what was more enjoyable for them was that we had to read their many-syllable names (up until now they had only told us their nicknames- one girl is Thaninwattaphong but in class we are accustomed to calling her Dao. Regardless of where I look for work, I definitely plan to come back to Thailand in the future.
In the last few weeks, I've been very busy, first finishing up the course and then making my way back to Bangkok by train. The previous weekend, we had gone to see a Muay Thai (kick-boxing) match. I’ve never been very into boxing, but I was told it’s a good experience. The fights open with ritual- the fighters kneel down, stand up, pat their fists on the floor and flail their feet in a rhythmic prayer to the spirits to keep them safe and bring them good luck. Then it begins. Live music is played on the sideline, three musicians playing a drum, cymbals, and some kind of woodwind. The boxers hold their gloved fists in the air, elbows bent, ready to jab or block. The punches are not dealt in fast sequence; rather they are carefully timed and precisely aimed. No energy is wasted. It is conserved for kicking. When the other fighter comes within the exact distance, they strike. The feet fly out with the force of a catapult, launching kicks at the opponent’s vulnerable torso. In close quarters, it is not possible to fully outstretch the legs to great effect; instead, knees are thrust sharply upward into the ribs. Skin reddens, spit and sweat are flung in all directions, and competitors try to catch their breath. A bell rings and trainers pull their fighters into opposite corners of the ring, sit them down, pour water on them and rub their arm and leg muscles vigorously. Individual raters have awarded points for hits (and kicks) and one fighter is declared the winner of the round. Then it starts over. Fighters are clearly exhausted by the fourth round. In the fifth round, if no one has been knocked out, the wins for each round are added and one boxer emerges victorious.
On Saturday we left the beautiful place that had been our home for a month. We said goodbye to the staff and fed the catfish one last time (they've grown enormous). When we got to town, we had to say goodbye to our driver, Neng, who was also our student and someone we had all spent a lot of time with and had helped us immensely. This was sad as well. As for my fellow trainees, we've become like a little family. We'd all grown very close through the ups and downs of the course, and we decided to stay at the same guest house to postpone our parting as long as possible. That night we celebrated as the last time we would be all together and went out for a night on the town, discussing our future plans and promising to meet up with each other as we wander through Asia. We stayed up until 5 in the morning... and then Sumra woke me up at 7 to paint beautiful flowing patterns and flowers on my hands with henna. She is the person I became closest with on the course and I will miss her very much as my friend and sister (and I have now come to be called little Naqia's "khala," Urdu for aunt). I know I'll be seeing her in the future. One by one, I said goodbye to each of my friends. I can only describe it as bittersweet, knowing that each of us was on our way to do great things, but not knowing when and if we would see each other again.
When we had checked into our guest house, some of us had been talking about going to Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain. However we realized we were all exhausted and nobody really had it in them to go anymore. But it being my last opportunity, I decided to forget my fatigue and go by myself. The ride up took about half an hour, by which point I had almost no energy left. A light rain started to fall and I fought to stay awake. When we arrived, I seriously considered asking the driver to turn around and go back. I didn't feel any better once I saw the 306 steps guarded by colorful dragons that I needed to summit in order to even see the temple. But I put one foot in front of the other and started my ascent. Once at the top, I walked around the back of the temple to see the view from above and I got a spectacular reward for my perseverance- a rainbow stretched out over the entire city!
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